The Many Ways of Being a Foreigner
Verena Erlenbusch
The question of diversity, both with regard to the demographic profile of philosophers as well as the content of philosophical inquiry, has received much attention in recent years. The underrepresentation of women philosophers as well as philosophers of color has received by far the most attention. In addition, some philosophers have also worked hard to bring to our attention the marginalization of disabled philosophers, and there are emerging discussions of the ways in which class and being a first-generation affect one’s experience as a professional philosopher. One figure that has received relatively little attention is that of the foreigner. To the extent that philosophers have taken the foreigner as their object of inquiry, they have largely focused on challenges non-native speakers of English face in a profession largely conducted in English (Ayala 2015, Contessa 2014, Mizrahi 2013). Yet, an understanding of the foreigner in terms of the non-native speaker does not exhaust the conceptual space of the foreigner. Since not all foreigners are non-native speakers, a focus on the non-native speaker only captures the experience of some foreigners. Moreover, testimonies featured on the blog Being a Foreigner in Academia show that there are challenges faced by foreigners regardless of their language competency. For example, Canadian citizens working in the United States have to navigate complex immigration procedures and are vulnerable to having their status revoked if they fail to secure a permanent position. Similarly, Americans working in the UK have to report to the Home Office if they fail to attend work for more than a week. A concept of the foreigner as a non-native speaker not only fails to capture their experience, but actually obscures the fact that they are foreigners. There is, in other words, some conceptual vagueness, if not confusion, with regard to the foreigner. What exactly do we mean when we speak about the foreigner, and what problems is the concept of the foreigner supposed to elucidate?
In this paper, I survey the conceptual landscape in order to clarify the stakes of philosophical discussions of the foreigner. I develop a taxonomy of different conceptions of the foreigner, which allows for more clarity and a more precise discussion of the different and specific challenges faced by foreigners. Based on the experiences mentioned above, I propose that we distinguish the linguistic foreigner, i.e. the individual who is not a native speaker of the language in which they work, from the material foreigner, by which I understand an individual who is foreign by virtue of not being a citizen of their country of work and residence. In addition, we might think of disciplinary foreigners as individuals whose appointment is in a particular discipline, but whose qualifying degree is in an adjacent discipline such as Intellectual History or Social and Political Thought. Following Salamon’s (2009) and Dotson’s (2012) characterization of Philosophy as a culture of justification, we may further describe philosophers who work in non-core (e.g. Feminist Philosophy, African-American Philosophy) or non-analytic (e.g. Existentialism, Phenomenology) areas of philosophy as epistemic foreigners. Finally, members of underrepresented groups including women, philosophers of color, disabled philosophers, trans* philosophers, LGBTQ philosophers, and first-generation or working class philosophers often feel marginalized and excluded. Within the context of philosophical practice, it may be helpful to think of them as cultural foreigners. I conclude by outlining an ameliorative conception of the foreigner as central to philosophical practice.
In this paper, I survey the conceptual landscape in order to clarify the stakes of philosophical discussions of the foreigner. I develop a taxonomy of different conceptions of the foreigner, which allows for more clarity and a more precise discussion of the different and specific challenges faced by foreigners. Based on the experiences mentioned above, I propose that we distinguish the linguistic foreigner, i.e. the individual who is not a native speaker of the language in which they work, from the material foreigner, by which I understand an individual who is foreign by virtue of not being a citizen of their country of work and residence. In addition, we might think of disciplinary foreigners as individuals whose appointment is in a particular discipline, but whose qualifying degree is in an adjacent discipline such as Intellectual History or Social and Political Thought. Following Salamon’s (2009) and Dotson’s (2012) characterization of Philosophy as a culture of justification, we may further describe philosophers who work in non-core (e.g. Feminist Philosophy, African-American Philosophy) or non-analytic (e.g. Existentialism, Phenomenology) areas of philosophy as epistemic foreigners. Finally, members of underrepresented groups including women, philosophers of color, disabled philosophers, trans* philosophers, LGBTQ philosophers, and first-generation or working class philosophers often feel marginalized and excluded. Within the context of philosophical practice, it may be helpful to think of them as cultural foreigners. I conclude by outlining an ameliorative conception of the foreigner as central to philosophical practice.